Thailand's Peace and Reconciliation panel urges new agencies to resolve unrest in South

BANGKOK, June 5 (TNA) - Thailand's government-appointed independent panel assessing the ongoing insurgency in the country's Muslim-majority southernmost provinces urged the government on Monday to create new bodies to follow with its core mission to bring peace where there is no peace.

In high hopes that it will provide a solution to the two-year old renewed violence in insurgency-plagued southern border region which has claimed more than 1,200 lives, Thailand's National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) submitted its report to a government which is perceived by critics as not being successful in addressing the problem.

Speaking at a news conference held here at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Anand Panyarachun, a former prime minister and head of the NRC, said the report predicts a bleak future for the troubled region, warning that the ongoing violence would likely continue unabated in the near future, considering the current circumstances.

In findings submitted to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Monday, the National Reconciliation Commission (a panel of academics, religious leaders, politicians and lawyers), appointed to identify the key factors behind the violence in the South, said it is necessary for the government to issue new laws to restore peace and community well-being in response to the ongoing violence through newly-created independent agencies.

The structure of the recommended new state-funded bodies would be similar that which Mr. Thaksin disbanded shortly after taking office in 2001, said Dr. Prawes Wasi, an NRC member.

Two bodies, the Peaceful Strategic Administrative Centre and the Development Council for Southern Border Provinces, would be responsible for promoting and ensuring justice in the region and to coordinate the policies and programmes of appropriate agencies with a unified chain of command.

They will also promote local participation in the development process, the report said.

Mr. Anand told journalists that after 12-months of study his team had concluded that the root causes of the southern problems were poverty, a lack of development, cultural differences and the failure of the justice system.

To restore normalcy to the region, the NRC report also recommended measures for urgent implementation, including combined forces of police, military and unarmed civilians to prevent the current low-level insurgency from escalating into larger crisis, seeking peaceful negotiation with insurgents. The report also said that state officials who abuse their authority must be punished.

To achieve an enduring peaceful solution, the NRC asked the government to resolve problems of unemployment and to overhaul the justice system, as well as using the Pattani dialect of the Malayu language as a language and cultural resource to reduce the communication barriers between villagers and local authorities.

However, the respected former premier conceded that the report was non-binding, and whether the recommendations would be implemented or not was up to the incumbent government.

The NRC, Mr. Anand said, will cease to exist after its mission has been acccomplished.